Chapter 3, Verse 3
śrī bhagavān uvāca
loke’smin dvividhā niṣṭhā
purā proktā mayā’nagha
jñāna-yogena sāṅkhyānāṁ
karma-yogena yoginām
The Lord says: In this world there is a two-fold path as I have said before, O sinless one: Jyaana Yoga for the sankhyans and Karma Yoga for the yogis.
Loke’smin: this word refers to the human world, this world of duality. In this world of duality, only man is qualified to adapt disciplines of Jyaana Yoga and Karma Yoga. Krishna says that of all the species, only the human being has the capacity of transcending these two yogas. He says to Arjuna, “‘O sinless one’, you are above this. You are a Maha Yogi, whatever you do will not have any sin in it.”
Krishna says that there are two modes of sadhana, two principle states in which one attains the Divine. The first is, “Jyaana Yoga for the sankhyans” – jñāna-yogena sāṅkhyānāṁ. In this state, one believes in the identity of the soul and Paramatma. One knows that God, Paramatma, the Absolute is the doer, the creator, the protector and the destroyer. He is not outside one, rather He is acting through one’s body. In this state, one is humble. One is always obedient to the Master, to the Guru, to God.
The second yoga is Karma Yoga for the karma yogis – karma-yogena yoginām.
The karma yogi moves among the gunas and he moves in the outside world, but he doesn’t have any connection to them. He disclaims that it is he who is doing anything. The first yogi, the sankhyan yogi, is aware that the Lord is in everything. The second
one, the karma yogi, is also aware that the Lord is in everything. He is realised in a similar way. He does what he has to do in the outside world with the same attitude – that it is not he who is doing it, but it is God doing it through him. He doesn’t take credit for his actions. He doesn’t take credit for the actions, the thoughts, or the senses. So, He is free from egoism, the sense of possession, attachment, and desires. That’s the path of knowledge. When one attains that state of a yogi, one transcends joy, grief, and desire. Then one is centred within one’s Self. One sees the All-pervading Lord within oneself and the universe.
Karma Yoga here also means doing your sadhana, your meditation, on the glory and reality of God. It means praying that whatever one does, is for the worship of the Lord and serving Him. Through this, one attains the Divine.
Bhagavad Gita
